Hate This & I'll Love You
by Jess J
Summary: Ficlet challenge. "Because I knew. All along, I knew. I just, did not want to admit it," she answered, dropping her eyes from his gaze. From the truth.


Author's note: This was Clez's ficlet request from me over at LiveJournal. Basically, I let anyone on my friends list request a ficlet of 100 to 1000 words, give the necessary requirements, and I'll try to write it best as possible. This was her ficlet. It almost turned into a scene from my WIP LXG story, Reclaim, but I kept my muse from making it completely that way. Still, I was picturing Michael Sheen with his Lucian look while writing Dracula. Hope you enjoy, she did thankfully, and please, reviews are very, very important. Now for the requirements:

Title: Hate This & I'll Love You  
Fandom: LXG  
Genre: Angst/Drama  
Characters: Mina - just Mina, if possible.  
Line: "It burns inside of me."

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story, nor the title. The characters belong to their respective writers, the universe belongs to Allan Moore, and I forgot the other guys name, I know that's horrible (I'm sick, please forgive me), and Fox. The title belongs to Muse. I mean no copyright infringement. Please do not sue me. Savvy?

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HATE THIS & I'LL LOVE YOU

"It burns inside of me. Cold, icy fire. The vampiric nature you gave me. The thirst. The lust for a crimson liquid thicker, richer than wine. The desire to taste throats, to drain dry. And it's impossible to change that. Isn't it?"

Dracula met her eyes. His smirk, tips of white fangs exposed, was sinister and alluring at the same time. He walked up to her, quickly sliding behind her, tilting her head, baring her neck as his fingers brushed over the mark he had left.

"You know this is so, Mina. Why hold out hope?" he asked her, voice dark and hardly even a whisper it was so soft. "Is it because of someone special? Is it because of those, _friends_, of yours?" he asked. Serpents could not hiss better, or make her flesh crawl more.

"I do not want to lose control," she admitted, her body going numb and her mind going weak at the sound of his voice.

Dracula smirked wider, long, sharp fangs completely exposed now. "You do not want to hurt them. To burn them with the chill of your special kiss. You long to be close to them, all of them, yet you fear yourself," he told her, as if making clear some burden she had not understood, but had weighed her down. "Yet, you were not like this with Dorian. Why is that?" he asked her.

He let his hands drop from her, walking around her again, facing her. His eyes met hers as she moved her head back up, gray storm clouds forcing her to give him the answer he already knew, yet would not tell her.

"Because I knew. All along, I knew. I just, did not want to admit it," she answered, dropping her eyes from his gaze. From the truth.

"Admit what?"

Mina's eyes closed, and she turned. "Please do not make me think about this," she pleaded to her sire, her lover, her murderer.

But Dracula would not leave the question in the air. Cold hands gripped her shoulders, one moving up to her neck, roughly forcing her head up to look ahead, look in a mirror that held both of their reflections. "Look at us Mina. Look at us, like you made Dorian look at his portrait. Remember how he looked when you left?"

She nodded as best she could, chilled to the bone by his touch and his voice.

"That was what you knew. You knew what he was, what he truly was. You knew his soul was tainted like yours. Like mine. You were drawn to him because there was darkness. He was a cheap imitation of what you still wanted. You knew your nature posed no threat to him. Because your nature would pose no threat to me," Dracula whispered in her ear, forcing her to listen to her own confessions she had locked away in the back of her mind and tried to never face, never acknowledge making.

Mina stared at the mirror, seeing the truth in his eyes, eyes that were now ice blue. They reminded her of another pair of eyes she saw everyday.

Her own.

"You fear getting close to the others, because you know a part of you wants to make them like us," he whispered after several tense moments, his lips brushing against her ear.

"No."

The soft, determined word startled her sire, and his reflection became surprised, angry, confused.

"I am nothing like you. I do not want to infect the world, to wage a war against God, to damn pure, good souls. I hold darkness, but I will not bow to it. I am stronger than that. Unlike you," she told Dracula, breaking free from his grip.

He backed away from her, blue eyes now burning crimson, then dimming to gray as she turned to face him, her eyes locking with his.

"It burns, but I will not like it spread like wildfire, and I will not fear you any more. You're dead. You are not even real. You are nothing. Nothing but a memory."

Mina smiled faintly. It was not full off victory and triumph, not happiness or dry humor. It was the slight curve of her mouth, marking the peace of mind she had finally found. Watching the other vampire snarl as blood poured from a wound Van Helsing had made only a few years ago, Mina slowly closed her eyes.

And opened them, finding herself in her bed, the sun rising and brightening the night sky, blinding her for a moment as it shined in through the porthole.

Daylight had woken her from another nightmare again. But perhaps now, she would be free of them. At least for a while.


End file.
